The invention relates to a process and device for connecting at least one optical fibre and an integrated optical component comprising at least one wave guide. The invention applies more particularly to the production of optical communication systems.
Numerous integrated optical components are known. The majority of them comprise bidimensional wave guides, so as to obtain the optimum confinement of light over a suitable length. When such components are to be inserted in optical circuits, for example, circuits for transmission, signal processing or the acquisition of physical parameters, it is important to connect the wave guides, which can be single-mode or multi-mode wave guides, with the minimum loss to the optical fibres comprising such circuits.
A technique is also known for connecting an optical fibre to a wave guide of an integrated optical component. The technique consists in first retaining the fibre in a support so that the fibre can be more readily manipulated. The support can be a metal tube, a silicon plate previously engraved so that it contains V-shaped furrows, or a moulded, for example, plastics support. The fibre is then moved close to the guide by means of micromanipulators. For this purpose two methods are used:
The first method is known as the "flip-flop" method. It can be used only for flat components without electrodes or without impedance adaptation plates. Moreover, the alignment of the optical fibre with the wave guide means that the plate carrying the wave guide must be made from a transparent material, and the plate must be polished on both surfaces.
In the second method the fibre support is attached to a support rigidly connected to the wave guide support by means of a glue. This second method comes up against the problem of the shrinkage of the glue. In practice moreover the correct mechanical behaviour of the fibre adjacent the wave guide requires the assembly formed by the fibre and its support to be so polished that the end of the fibre is flush with the edge of the support. If a number of optical fibres mounted on the same support must be connected respectively to wave guides also disposed on the same support, the second method certainly has the advantage of allowing a collective connection, but it also has the disadvantage of not allowing the correction of faults in the initial positioning of the fibres in their support, or de-centering faults in the cores of the optical fibres.